Peripheral Follicular T Helper Cells and Mucosal-Associated Invariant T Cells Represent Activated Phenotypes During the Febrile Phase of Acute Dengue Virus Infection

Sathappan U Preeyaa; Amudhan Murugesan; Surliappan Sopnajothi; Yean K Yong; Hong Y Tan; Marie Larsson; Vijayakumar Velu; Esaki M Shankar

doi:10.1089/vim.2020.0149

Peripheral Follicular T Helper Cells and Mucosal-Associated Invariant T Cells Represent Activated Phenotypes During the Febrile Phase of Acute Dengue Virus Infection

Viral Immunol. 2020 Nov;33(9):610-615. doi: 10.1089/vim.2020.0149. Epub 2020 Sep 30.

Authors

Sathappan U Preeyaa¹, Amudhan Murugesan², Surliappan Sopnajothi³, Yean K Yong⁴, Hong Y Tan^{4

5}, Marie Larsson⁶, Vijayakumar Velu^{7

8}, Esaki M Shankar¹

Affiliations

¹ Infection Biology, Department of Life Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Central University of Tamil Nadu, Thiruvarur, India.
² Department of Microbiology, Government Theni Medical College and Hospital, Theni, India.
³ Department of Medicine, Government Theni Medical College and Hospital, Theni, India.
⁴ Laboratory Center, Xiamen University Malaysia, Sepang, Malaysia.
⁵ Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Xiamen University Malaysia, Sepang, Malaysia.
⁶ Molecular Medicine and Virology, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Linkoping University, Linkoping, Sweden.
⁷ Division of Microbiology and Immunology, Emory Vaccine Center, Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
⁸ Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Emory Vaccine Center, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

Abstract

Peripheral follicular helper T (pTfh) cells represent specialized CD4⁺ T cells that help B cells to secrete antibodies. Dengue infection appears to cause immune activation in a wide array of immune cells. Herein, we investigated the signatures of immune activation of circulating Tfh cells and mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells in adult subjects with confirmed acute clinical dengue virus (DENV) infection by multiparametric flow cytometry. The acute DENV infection induced a significant expansion of highly activated pTfh cells and circulating MAIT cells during acute febrile infection. We found a higher frequency of activated PD-1⁺ Tfh cells and CD38⁺ pTfh cells in clinical DENV infection. We also found similar activated and expanding phenotypes of MAIT cells in the patients tested. The total counts of activated pTfh cells and circulating MAIT cells were higher in dengue patients relative to healthy controls. We concluded that pTfh cells and circulating MAIT cells represent activated phenotypes in acute DENV infection.

Keywords: CD38; Ki67; MAIT cells; dengue virus; pTfh cells.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes* / cytology
CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes* / immunology
Dengue / immunology*
Humans
Mucosal-Associated Invariant T Cells* / immunology
T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer* / cytology
T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer* / immunology

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

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